Mexico's army has uncovered a 230-metre tunnel running under the Sonora-Arizona border that was used to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Mexico's Defence Department said the tunnel linked a soon-to-be-opened ice and purified water business in San Luis Rio Colorado, in the state of Sonora, to a business in San Luis, Ariz.

Gen. Raul Guereca said Saturday that the tunnel was 1.3 metres high and reached a depth of almost 18 metres below ground. It had electricity, ventilation and small cars to transport the drugs through the tunnel.

Officials did not say which cartel they thought had built the tunnel. As U.S. authorities have tightened land crossings, tunnels have become a popular way for Mexico's cartels to smuggle drugs and people into the U.S.